This article is a part of our collection known as the Marine Hall Of Distinction. In this special collection, we will discuss marine biologists who we feel have served marine biology & oceanography the most. We do this in order to commemorate these marine biologists & to show gratitude for everything they have contributed to our oceans.
Today’s marine biologist, is Johan Hjort, a Norwegian Marine Biologist & Marine Scientist. He is well known for his work regarding fisheries, scientific discovery, & his place in founding the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea.
In this article, we are going to delve into his formative years & education, his career & later life, & his achievements, accomplishments, awards, & honorables. With that being said, let us delve into the life & career of Johan Hjort.
His Formative Years & Education
Johan Hjort was born on February 18th, 1869, in Oslo, Norway. He was born to Johan S. A. Hjort, an accomplished professor in ophthalmology, & Elizabeth Falsen, of the Dano-Norwegian Noble Falsen Family. He had at least one sibling, Alf Hjort, who went on to become a distinguished electrical engineer. As a young man, he had a fascination with the natural world, which inspired him to go down the career path he ended up on. Although his true desires were to study animals & the natural world, his father wished for him to follow in his footsteps & become a doctor. Hjort began taking classes in medicine at the University of Oslo, however he felt unsatisfied & unfulfilled. His fascination for animals was incredibly strong, & eventually, he left, & went to the University of Munich to study Zoology. After graduating, he briefly worked at the Stazione Zoologica in Southern Italy, studying Botryllus tunicates. These tunicates would form the basis for his thesis. Upon leaving Italy, he returned to Munich & got his P.hd in 1892.
His Career & Later Life
Upon earning his doctorate he returned to Norway & worked as the curator of a museum for a while, while simultaneously developing courses.
In 1894, he succeeded fellow marine biologist Georg O. Sars as a Research Fellow studying Fisheries. However, he quickly left the possession, as he had a desire to learn more about chemical oceanography. This desire led him to the University of Germany, where he stayed for a year, before moving back to Norway in 1897 to work at the Marine Biological Station at Oslo. Hjort soon began working with a variety of scientists & fisheries researchers such as C. G. Johannes Petersen, to study fish stocks in the shallow waters of Denmark. Petersen had devised an interesting trawling system for other research missions, however, it wouldn’t work as well for the soft-bottomed Norwegian fjords. Hjort adapted it successfully, & upon using it on an expedition in 1898, discovered plentiful stocks of Pandalus borealis, a species of Deep Sea Prawn. This was an incredibly important event, as it introduced a new kind of plentiful seafood to the region. The Norwegian government was very interested in this, & Hjort convinced them to fund the building of a deep-sea fisheries research vessel. He named the vessel Micheal Sars, after a marine zoologist. It was officially completed in 1900.
Hjort soon became the director of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, Norway, & stayed in that position for 16 years. During this time, he conducted many research expeditions, venturing as far as Spitsbergen & Jan Mayen.
A fellow Norwegian marine biologist had recently discovered that the eggs of certain commercially important fish would move naturally, & thus, would not be affected negatively by deep-sea trawling. Hjort found this information to be highly intriguing, & launched an expedition aboard the Micheal Sars research vessel to study the abundance of cod eggs in the North Atlantic. On this mission, he realized that areas with more plentiful eggs would usually have more existing plentiful fish stocks.
This would lead many Norwegian Fishermen to come to these areas, & caused Norway to become one of the most profitable fishing grounds for Cod in Europe.
Around this time, he assisted in the founding of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, more commonly known as ICES. He served as the Norwegian Delegate to ICES from 1908 to 1938. He was elected president that year, & kept that position until his unfortunate death.
In 1909, Scottish-Canadian Oceanographer John Murray, who we have discussed in a previous article, proposed a four-month expedition on the Micheal Sars research Vessel with Hjort as the Scientific Commander. He offered to fund the entire voyage, & Hjort accepted. They spent the winter months of late 1909 & early 1910 preparing the ship for the voyage, & set sail in April of that year. They traveled approximately 11,500 miles, & visited at least 116 research stations.
The results of the expedition were published in the book “The Depths of The Ocean”, 1912, which has since become one of the most popular scientific books amongst marine biologists.
After much research, in 1914, he published one of his most cited works, “Fluctuations in the Great Fisheries of Northern Europe”. In the same year, he conducted research on the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada, & published the results in a small book. The book had a very small circulation, & very few copies exist modernly.
His interest in fish populations led to him becoming concerned about overfishing, which he was one of the first people to consider. To combat this, he began petitioning the Norwegian Government to pass legislation that would limit whaling. Parliament listened, & soon passed legislation to limit commercial whaling.
Hjort negotiated foreign relations between England & Norway during the First World War regarding fish-purchasing agreements. He did this with the intention of it being made public, however, the Norwegian Foreign Minister decided otherwise. Distraught & mildly disappointed, Hjort resigned from most of his positions in Norway, & spent the next few years moving between Denmark & England. His thirst for knowledge led him
to the Department of Physiology & Zoology at Cambridge University, where he was often seen taking notes during lectures. He would return to Oslo in 1921, to become a professor.
He visited New England in 1936 to receive an honorary degree from Harvard University, & while visiting, he realized how similar the waters of New England were to the waters of Atlantic Norway. Hjort commissioned a research vessel to do trawling, & found an abundance of Shrimp. This caused shrimp fisheries to pop up along the Eastern United States, which were incredibly profitable.
Unfortunately, he passed away on October 7th, 1948, at the age of 79. He was married twice, with his first wife being Wanda von der Marswitz, & his second wife being Constance Gran. He had 2 sons & 2 daughters from his first wife, & no children from his second wife. He dedicated his life to marine life & zoology, & contributions to each field will not be forgotten.
His Achievements, Accomplishments, Awards, & Honorables
For his scientific efforts, he has had many things named in his honor, including an oceanic trench, a species of squid, a mountain range, & a street in Bergen, Norway.
He single-handedly increased fisheries worldwide & understanding of how fish stocks naturally fluctuate.
He has published multiple books that have had an incredible impact, a few of which are The Unity Of Science, 1921, & The Depths Of The Ocean, 1912.
He received multiple honorary degrees from many universities, including Harvard & Cambridge.
He has received many awards, including an Alexander Agassiz Award.
He has received many honors, including the Order of St. Olav, & the Fellowship of the Royal Society.
Directories / Credits
Citation No. 1: “Johan Hjort superhero ‘avenger’ of fisheries research and the man who showed Forrest Gump how to go shrimpin'”, Written by Ibon Cancio, & Published on May 31st, 2021. Published by the European Marine Biological Resource Center. Retrieval Date: October 15th, 2024.
Citation No. 2: “Obituary: Johan Hjort 1869-1948”, Written by A. C. Hardy, & Published on November 1st, 1950. Published by Royal Society Publishing. Retrieval Date: October 15th, 2024.
Citation No. 3: “Scientist Of The Day: Johann Hjort”, Written by Dr. William B. Ashworth, & Published on October 7th, 2015. Retrieval Date: October 15th, 2024.
Citation No. 4: “A Sea Change: Johan Hjort & The Natural Fluctuations In Fish Stocks”, Written by Vera Schwach, & Published in October 2014. Retrieval Date: October 15th, 2024.
Citation No. 5: “Hjort, Johan (1869-1948): Marine & Fisheries Biology”, Written by Charles Smith, & Published in 2005. Published by Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists: Chrono-Biographical Sketches. Retrieval Date: October 15th, 2024.
Citation No. 6: “Johan Hjort: A Marine Research Pioneer Whose Ideas Still Hold Water”, Written by Unknown, & Published on November 15th, 2019. Published by The Barents Observer. Retrieval Date: October 15th, 2024.
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